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Suddenly, Everybody's an Expert

OSCAR WILDE is said to have defined an expert as an ordinary man away from home giving advice. Today, those words may be truer than ever, with a few tweaks. An expert, it seems, is now an ordinary person sitting at home, beaming advice over the Internet to anyone who wants help.

In the last few months, thousands of such ordinary people have signed up to wear the label of online expert. They are participating in a new breed of Web site that tries to match people who have questions with people who think they have answers.

Sites like ExpertCentral (expertcentral.com), XpertSite.com (xpertsite.com), KnowPost (knowpost.com) and EXP (exp.com) have been open for only a few months but have already become virtual trading floors where the currency is knowledge and the subjects jump from brewing beer to filing taxes and cheating at poker. Others, like Deja.com (deja.com) and the just-opened Abuzz (www.abuzz.com), are more free-form, guiding users to online bulletin boards that are populated with people eager to offer their two cents' worth.

These sites, often called expert sites or knowledge networks, represent the latest stage in the Internet's evolution, the people who have created them say. For years, computer users have tried to find answers on line by sifting through frequently asked questions on Web pages or typing keywords into search engines. Many people have also tried posting questions to newsgroups or other discussion groups linked by e-mail.

But something was missing, the founders of these new sites argue. What people need, they say, is human intervention, real answers that are fast, personalized and -- unlike much information in online discussion groups -- easy to find. Expert sites are trying to provide the technology to make that happen -- and they are betting that enough real people will be willing and able to answer even the most obscure queries.

''People have questions like, I'm moving from Cincinnati to Seattle, what are the best things to know?'' said Udai Shekawat, vice president for marketing and business development for Xpertsite.com. ''We will try to give you a customized answer.''

Dealing with real people, however, is not always easy. Sure, it can result in heartwarming interactions with people who want to help for purely altruistic reasons. But it also means coping with people who have real needs to make money, who have real desires to build reputations, or who, at the worst, have real delusions about whether they know what they are talking about.

''Anybody can be an expert now, at least on the things they have personally experienced,'' said Paul Resnick, a professor at the University of Michigan's School of Information who studies the interaction between people and computers. The result, he said, is ''a democratization of information publishing'' and a ''democratization of expertise.''

But he added that it was more important than ever to be wary. ''Just because someone says something doesn't mean it's true,'' he said.

Ron Conlin, corporate research director for J. D. Power & Associates, a company that conducts consumer surveys, has stronger words for the phenomenon. He calls it ''pseudoresearch.''

''We are seeing a lot of questions being asked very inappropriately to the wrong kinds of people,'' he said, ''and the wrong information is transmitted.''

Some people who might be considered established information experts, like librarians and professors, say the commercialization of expert sites could taint the information from such traditional sources. Some of the sites, like EXP, hope to generate revenue by encouraging their experts to charge for their advice and then pocketing a percentage of the fees. Others, like Xpertsite.com (which will be renamed AskMe.com at the end of the month) plan to make commissions on whatever is purchased as a result of their experts' suggestions.

For now, however, many of the answers offered on these sites (and available for viewing) have nothing to do with product recommendations but are a mixed bag of information. Abuzz, for example, is designed to be a variation of an online discussion board and sometimes elicits responses that are simply off-hand remarks. (It is owned by Times Company Digital, the Internet division of The New York Times Company.)

Each of the sites, however, displays at least some thoughtful answers that appear to come from kindly souls who have the time to respond , without strings attached.

Bill Russo, for example, is an expert on ExpertCentral. Ten years ago, he and his wife had triplets, a result of the use of fertility drugs. Now he answers questions, free of charge, about coping with the challenge. ''We've had just about every problem you can have, in triplicate,'' he said.

Mr. Russo gets several questions a day, which he answers while sitting in his den at night, usually after testing his ideas with his family during dinner. Some of the requests he has received, he said, are personal questions about the emotional repercussions of multiple births -- questions that, experts in library science say, are typically not asked of reference librarians or even of counseling professionals, who might seem intimidating.

''I think sometimes people are looking to avoid going to a professional,'' Mr. Russo said. ''Sometimes it's easier to not be face to face with someone.'' Visitors to most of these expert sites can disguise their identities by adopting screen names and can even choose to have their questions and answers hidden from public view.

As an expert, however, Mr. Russo makes every attempt to disclose his identity. He uses the screen name of ''bill.russo,'' has a Web site at www.bill.russo.com and offers several paragraphs of information about himself and his wife in his ExpertCentral profile. ''What I offer to you,'' he says in his profile, ''is the knowledge we have accumulated over the years.''

But what happens if the people answering questions are less open about their credentials -- or about what motivates them? EXP, a site that encourages people to pay at least a few dollars for expert advice, offers an expert named Austin who purports to be a guru on nutrition, stress management and other health-related subjects. Under the heading titled Background in the profile area, Austin writes: ''It's not my experience that you care about. It's your problem.''

The creators of expert sites want users to judge for themselves who can best answer their questions, and most of them have posted lengthy disclaimers about their lack of responsibility for harmful advice. But they do offer some guideposts to steer people away from suspect ''experts'' and point them toward people who are forthcoming about their credentials. The sites have adopted rating systems similar to the one used on eBay, which asks buyers to rate sellers and sellers to rate buyers. In the case of the expert sites, each expert is given a rating.

Abuzz, for example, depicts the number of good reviews a person has received by putting pictures of starbursts -- which it calls ''applause'' -- next to their names. The site, also offers statistics on how many questions each person has answered.

Those who have answered more questions than the vast majority of Abuzz users are listed as ''top people.'' One is Nance Douglas, an elementary schoolteacher who has answered more than 630 questions since the site opened for testing in September.

Those rating systems are, in a sense, the sites' attempt to build new frameworks of credibility. They want to be anti-elitist spaces filled with ''real answers'' that have not been edited or vetted by professionals, yet at the same time they are encouraging people to build their own hierarchies, to review their peers.

Debbi Craig, a woman has used ExpertCentral as both a questioner and an expert, has already subscribed to that notion. ''When looking for an expert,'' she wrote in an e-mail interview, ''find one that has answered at least five or more questions and has a rating of three or higher.'' As a self-described expert on herbs, fertility and marriage relationships, Ms. Craig has so far answered 18 questions and received a rating of four out of five bull's-eyes.

But, as many librarians and social scientists ask, who is evaluating the evaluators? Some eBay users, for example, say they have seen sellers rig the system -- by selling bogus items to relatives, for example -- to bolster their ratings. And some people may give good reviews even if they have not tested the advice yet.

A man named Jack, for example, recently posted a request on ExpertCentral, asking for recommendations for exotic scuba diving sites. Someone going by the name Thomashemphill replied that same day, suggesting that Jack try Micronesia. Jack replied, ''Thanks. You answered my question perfectly,'' and gave Thomas the highest possible rating. But what if Jack actually went to Micronesia and found that it was an awful place to dive?

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Trust and credibility become even more significant, analysts say, when experts are offering medical and financial advice. Holly Atkinson, a doctor in New York who is now running a Web site called Healthanswers.com, worries that people might get medical advice from ''any Joe Blow'' -- perhaps leading them astray and keeping them from seeking professional help. ''There are people out there who are misrepresenting themselves,'' she said.

One person who offers medical advice through an expert site is Tim Birdsall of Colorado. Since ExpertCentral opened in October, Mr. Birdsall has answered 55 questions about naturopathic medicine and achieved a rating of four out of five bull's-eyes. In his extensive online profile, he calls himself ''Dr. Birdsall,'' but he also explains that he is an N.D., which stands for doctor of naturopathy, not an M.D. He has offered advice on a number of subjects, like using herbal therapies for prostate cancer and treating a sty with a hot compress.

When asked in an interview if he expected that most of his questioners knew the difference between a naturopathic doctor and a conventional physician, he replied, ''I'm sure that a lot of them do not.'' But he added that most users considered the site a ''buyer beware'' environment. ''The point,'' he said, ''is that whether it is hepatitis or Beanie Babies, everyone has some expertise.''

For now, Mr. Birdsall has answered nearly all of the questions posed to him without charging a cent. But he said that would not last forever. ''I've done a lot more gratis work initially than I will do down the road,'' he said. He is using ExpertCentral, he acknowledged, to make a name for himself and gain more paying clients worldwide.

When Mr. Birdsall does start charging clients, ExpertCentral will pocket 15 percent of the revenue he generates from queries on the site. He expects to charge fees that are slightly less expensive than his usual rates, $50 to $120 an hour.

Xpertsite.com plans to use a similar system. But Mr. Shekawat also plans to derive commissions from products that are sold based on experts' referrals. A runner answering questions about running shoes, for example, might suggest her favorite brand, along with a link to that brand's shopping site. Under this model, Mr. Shekawat said, experts will get a percentage of the purchase price and Xpertsite.com will get a percentage of that percentage. ''We already have merchants who want our experts to recommend their products,'' he said.

Traditional vetters of information, like librarians and editors, voice strong doubts about such a model. David Carter, for example, has seen his share of online questions as the head of the Internet Public Library, run by the University of Michigan. Visitors to the Internet Public Library may send e-mail questions to volunteers. The volunteers are trusted, Mr. Carter said, partly because of their independence from commercial interests.

''If someone is getting a kickback from Nike,'' Mr. Carter said, offering a theoretical example, ''you have to ask, Is there objectivity behind that information?'' But Jonathan Glick, founder of a soon-to-be-opened site called WePick.com (wepick .com), said he expected that users would not have a problem with such recommendations if the information was helpful. WePick.com plans to help people stake out online spaces in which they can recommend products and get commissions on their recommendations. As long as the commercial interests are ''transparent,'' Mr. Glick said, ''people will understand exactly what they are getting.''

The risk, of course, is that people will indeed understand exactly what they are getting -- and will avoid these sites for that very reason. Remember newsgroups? In the beginning, they offered the unfettered exchange of ideas; they were online bulletin boards where people could ask for help and often receive it. Now, many newsgroups are nothing but black holes swirling with classified advertisements, unanswered questions and questionable answers.

The legitimacy of the Oscar Wilde quotation -- ''the ordinary man away from home giving advice'' -- may be a case in point. At least half a dozen people have posted the quotation on Web pages, attributing it to Wilde without referring to an essay, a play or an occasion. But references like The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations do not list it. And a search of Wilde's most well-known works turns up no reference to it at all.

What better time to ask an online expert? A query about the quotation was posted on Knowpost.com, and an anonymous person offered an answer within minutes. It was a list of three Web sites that had posted the quotation and credited it to Wilde, yet the sites offered no information about the quotation's origins. They looked strikingly familiar. These were, in fact, some of the same sites that had led to the need to ask the question in the first place.

Have a question for a librarian? You may first want to try the Web site of your local public library. Other options include:

INTERNET PUBLIC LIBRARY

www.ipl.org

VIRTUAL REFERENCE DESK

www.vrd.org

Want an educational site created by an institutions like the Microscopy Society of America? You can find such sites at:

THE ASKA+ LOCATOR www.vrd.org

/locator/subject.html

Please Advise

When a Nonstick Coating Comes Unstuck

Just how helpful can expert sites be? Here are a few answers received in response to a question posted on several sites last week. The question: If I make scrambled eggs in an old Teflon pan and some of the Teflon flakes off in my eggs, should I be worried about it?